Today's Labour News

This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.

Daily Maverick reports that illegal miners (zama zamas), organised under the banner of Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua), took to the streets of Pretoria on Tuesday and marched on the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to deliver a memorandum of demands.

Among their demands were that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act be scrapped and that zama zamas be decriminalised. “We are here for recognition, to tell (the department) that we also exist, that we are not criminals and that we are not doing anything bad, just trying to provide for our families,” said Mmileng Bairwang, a small-scale miner from Kimberley. He added that they wanted the government to formalise illegal mining and to address the impact of abandoned and unrehabilitated mines. Mineral Regulation Chief director Modilati Malapane accepted the memo on behalf of the minister and assured the marchers that the issues raised would be addressed. Macua gave the department seven days to respond to their demands.